By Amy Jeter, The Virginian-Pilot

Imagine if buying health insurance was kind of like reserving a hotel room.

You log on to a website and answer questions about your age, the number of people in your family, your address.

You answer more questions about your income, whether you want to keep your doctor, your preferred deductible amount, and whether you want to pay a percentage of your health costs out-of-pocket for some more expensive services.

Then, voila!

A list of insurers and plans appears, with standardized descriptions of prices and benefits. All you have to do is choose one and sign up.

That’s how a health benefits exchange works. Under the national health law, starting this time next year, people with moderate to low incomes will be able to purchase individual plans this way for coverage that begins in 2014. Exchanges also are being set up for small businesses.

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Published: November 15, 2012